Page:Indian Medicinal Plants (Text Part 2).djvu/618

Stem 6 — 20 ft., erect from a stout rootstocks, ⅓ in, diam., spongy within, internodes 6 — 12 in., terete, smooth, uppermost glabrous under the panicle ; 1. 3— 5 ft. by 1 — 2 in. below the middle, tapering thence upwards to a long filiform point, and slightly downwards to the base, coriaceous, smooth, on both surfaces, glaucous beneath, margins spinulose, midrib up to ¼ in. broad, shining, veins many, very slender, sheaths terete, coriaceous, mouth not auricled, sides bearded, ligule short, lunate, hairy ; panicle 1 — 2 ft., dense-fid., ovoid or oblong, erect, decompound, rhachis stout, glabrous, branches half whorled, spreading in fi. ascending in fr., filiform ; spikes 1 — 3 in., rhachis filiform, fragile, internodes 1/5-¼ in., villous, tips obconic ; spikelets to 1/10in., clothed with long, soft, creamy or purplish woolly hairs up to ¼ in., long, callus very short ; glume I oblong-ovate, acuminate, dorsally convex, margins incurved, 1-veined in the flexures, II lanceolate, acuminate, 1 — 3-veined, margins above the middle and keel ciliate with long hairs, III oblong, hyaline, obtuse, 1-veined, margin above shortly ciliate, IV smaller, lancolate, subaristately acuminate, margins ciliate above, palea quadrate, ciliate ; lodicules irregular in shape ; anthers 1/20 in. (Trimen.)

Uses : — The root is officinal in the Panjab, under the name of garba ganda. It is burned near women after delivery, and near burns and scalds, its smoke being considered beneficial. (Stewart.)

Sans : — Palangini (Ainslie).

Vern : — Trinpali (H) ; Kangni (Ajmere) ; Dhaturoghas (Udaipur) ; Agimali-gadi (Chanda) ; Ratop (Berar).

Habitat: — Throughout the hotter parts of India.

Annual, erect, much branched grass. Stems 4-30 in. high, slender, compressed softly hairy, leafy ; nodes hairy. Leaves 1½ 8 by ¼-½in., linear-lanceolate, acute or acuminate, flat, hairy on both surfaces or on the lower only with bulbous-based hairs, margins ciliate, base cordate ; sheaths much shorter